Potassium in Salt Substitutes Can Lower High Blood Pressure

I’ve talked in the past about how a person’s blood pressure is significantly influenced by the ratio of potassium to sodium in one’s diet, not necessarily the amount of sodium itself.

One way to positively affect this ratio is to use a salt substitute such as Cardia Salt.

Cardia Salt was developed in Finland as PanSalt. Not only does Cardia have 54 percent less sodium than table salt, it also contains potassium and magnesium. Most people are unable to tell the difference between Cardia Salt and table salt.

The Fins recognized that the vast majority of sodium in our diets comes not from the our own table salt but rather from sodium added to the processed foods we consume. That’s why in Finland they have been adding PanSalt to processed foods for years.

The benefits of a salt substitute are impressive:

Two hundred and twenty-three hypertensive patients who were being treated with antihypertensive medications at thirteen centers in the U.S. were randomized in a double-blind study to receive either regular salt or Cardia at the table, in cooking, and in prepared meals, soups and snacks over a six week period.

In addition to the statistically significant reduction in blood pressure observed in the Cardia group compared to the regular salt group, the following results were also reported:

— Cardia did not interfere with the effects of any of the antihypertensive medications and was shown to be especially beneficial to those patients on beta blockers and ACE inhibitors.
— There was a statistically significant increase in potassium excretion.
— There was a statistically significant decrease in sodium excretion.
— Magnesium excretion was increased, although not statistically significantly.
— Patients were unable to distinguish Cardia from regular salt, which confirms the findings from other clinical trials and patient taste tests.

2 Comments

My dad has high blood pressure. I’ve switched to using Nu-Salt. It’s in a little blue shaker and you can get it at most grocery stores. It’s Potassium Chloride instead of Sodium Chloride. The taste IS a bit different but you get used to it.

Brian Karpuk
on April 7, 2009 at 4:05 am

A couple of interesting and interrelated articles which address some of the scientific skepticism regarding the benefits of reduced sodium intake. The genesis of the articles is the current push by Bloomberg’s NYC Administration to get processed food manufacturers to reduce the amount of sodium in their foods.